Kimi backed by E20 development this season

Lotus is prepared to push on with developments of its E20 much further into the campaign than it has its previous cars, as it eyes a full-on assault on the world championship.

With the outfit’s double podium finish in Hungary leaving rivals in no doubt that Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean are a serious threat for victory, Lotus itself thinks there is no reason why it cannot be chasing the ultimate prize this year.

Technical director James Allison told Sky Sports News on Friday that his outfit has realised that its form in recent years suffered from it electing to shift its resource on to the following year’s cars – something it is not intending to do this season.

“One of the things that our team has got a little bit wrong in the last couple of seasons is that we have been too ready to switch over to the new car a little bit too soon,” he said.

“So we started this year consciously intending to develop this one a bit longer than normal.”

Although Raikkonen is 48 points adrift of points leader Fernando Alonso, Allison thinks there is everything to play for in the championship – especially with a driver capable of securing 225 points over the remainder of the season.

When asked about the chances of Raikkonen being champion, Allison said: “Why not? There are an awful lot of points for coming first and there are a lot of races to be done. The lead is minuscule compared to the points available.”